Create a picture of the current form

Question

Is it possible to create an image from a current form? For example on onLoad create a picture of the current state of the form in the root folder? To store what the user sees as a picture.

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 23 '14 at 08:51

4

Try this,

using (var bmp = new Bitmap(this.Width, this.Height)) 
{
            this.DrawToBitmap(bmp, new Rectangle(0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height));
            bmp.Save(@"c:\temp\screenshot.png");
}

This will use the forms width and height (this.Width, this.Height if you are using the current form to write the screen to disk) and draw it to bitmap!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.drawtobitmap.aspx

answered Apr 23 '14 at 08:51

Ahmed ilyas

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Nice! It also works for the Application.OpenForms[0].DrawToBitmap(...) to get a screen shot of the running application's main window. – gridtrak Mar 10 '20 at 18:12

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 23 '14 at 08:58

This will return a 'FormShot' without borders, scrollbars, header etc. To save it simply use the Bitmap.Save method.

public static Bitmap TakeWindowScreenshot(Form window)

 {
   var b = new Bitmap(window.Width, window.Height);
   this.DrawToBitmap(b, new Rectangle(0, 0, window.Width, window.Height));

   Point p = window.PointToScreen(Point.Empty);

   Bitmap target = new Bitmap( window.ClientSize.Width, window.ClientSize.Height);
   using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(target))
   {
     g.DrawImage(b, 0, 0,
                 new Rectangle(p.X - window.Location.X, p.Y - window.Location.Y, 
                               target.Width, target.Height),  
                GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
   }
   b.Dispose();
   return target;
}

Create a picture of the current form

2 Answers2